Well, that's a Rätsel (a puzzlement). What do you, Sandy, or anyone else make of it. The old style/new style calendars isn't enough to account for it. I'll try googling the dates - something may pop up. 

The only dates that can even be remotely of interest are Eastern Orthodox liturgics (whatever they might be) and Runeberg's Birthday, where Runeberg's tart are made especially for the holiday (Finnish). These all fall on February 5th.

I notice no birthdays worth mentioning - but of course none of these dates are O.S.

As for May 18th ... much more interesting:

in 1158 Eleanor of the Aquitaine and Henry II wed (The Lion in Winter); 
in 1565 the siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt etsy etsy; 
in 1756 the Seven Years War begins; and in 1763 Montreal is nearly wiped out in a fire. 
A date full of incident, sans doute. Most fascinatingly, it was on this datte in 1926 that Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting Venice Beach (where I lived during the seventies - all ten of them). 
Apollo 10 is launched, Hubble telescope confirms etc.

Now birth dates here include Omar Khayyam, Konstantin of Rostov, Isabella d'Este, JJ Froberger, Mathew Brady, Gertrude Käsebier, Walter Gropius and Ezio Pinza (Perry Como and Charles Trenet to continue in the musical mode). But  - oh, and theatrical celebrities Robert Morse and Dwayne Hickman are also born on Pnin's birthday.

You know, I wonder if I'm not barking up the wrong tree. Perhaps we should be thinking of Pnin's parents in relationship to these dates. His father was an opthalmologist I believe (spell check says I misspelled it) - but do we know anything of his mother?

Carolyn

[edit]


Wikipedia informs us that February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 329 days remaining until the end of the year (330 in leap years).


From: "NABOKV-L, English" <nabokv-l@HOLYCROSS.EDU>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Fri, April 26, 2013 1:17:35 PM
Subject: [NABOKV-L] BIRTHDATES: Pnin's Birthday

Sandy Drescher writes:
 
Pnin's birthday is given as May 18th in The New Yorker, but becomes February 5th in the novel.

--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
 
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All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.